404: Chapter 404 The Endgame of Alchemy, Lu Li Makes His Move!

She sneered inwardly, 'Ancestor Qingyun was a hero of his generation, so how did he produce such a naive and simple-minded son? But this is for the best; this little fool is probably completely infatuated with my self-sacrificing act by now, isn't he? Once I'm done using him, I won't have to worry about him not being obedient.'

Despite her internal calculations, she forced a gentle smile onto her pale cheeks, one that even carried a hint of fragile beauty.

“Cough, cough... Silly child, I'm fine.” She took the Opportunity to clasp Lu Li's hand in return, patting it gently as she spoke softly, “As long as you are safe and sound, what does it matter if your sister suffers a little? I only need to adjust my breathing for a moment.”

After half a stick of incense's time, Fairy Linglong used the medicinal power of a top-grade Medicinal Pill to barely suppress the churning blood within her body, regaining some of her color.

Together, the two pushed open the heavy, ancient gates of the Immortal Palace and slowly walked inside.

The interior of the Immortal Palace was not as magnificent or filled with shimmering treasures as those outside had speculated.

Instead, what met their eyes was a deep and long corridor made of green jade.

On both sides of the corridor stood side halls with their doors tightly shut, and the air was thick with the scent of ancient sandalwood and a faint aroma of herbs that had settled over the ages.

They followed the corridor, their footsteps echoing in the empty passage, until they finally arrived before a side hall at the very end.

The door to this side hall was exceptionally different; it was tightly closed and lacked any keyhole. Instead, it was carved with profound Purple-Gold Immortal Runes, forming a massive Pill Furnace pattern that occupied the entire door.

Below the Pill Furnace, the names of various ancient immortal medicines and profound pharmacological runes were densely engraved like tadpoles.

However, if an expert were to look closely, they would discover that the paths along which these runes flowed were incomplete.

Many key areas were completely blank, and some runes were even arranged in reverse order, exuding a strong sense of conflicting intent.

This was a complex “Ancient Alchemy Endgame” that contained a terrifying power of backlash!

On the open ground on either side of the door, several elderly men sat cross-legged in disarray, their faces ashen and their auras weak.

Lu Li focused his gaze and couldn't help but feel secretly surprised.

These people were actually several high-ranking Formation Elders and Alchemy Elders from the Taiyi Immortal Sect and the Taixuan Immortal Sect.

They had clearly relied on their respective Sects' foundations and secret methods to pass through the outer Restrictions and reach this place a step ahead of Lu Li and his companion.

But now, these Elders, who were usually high and mighty and held in great respect, were all wearing miserable expressions, looking as if they had aged thousands of years in an instant.

A faint smell of blood permeated the air. Two Elders from the Taiyi Immortal Sect even had blood-stained robes and lay unconscious on the ground with breath as thin as silk. They had clearly tried to forcibly break this Alchemy Endgame with brute force earlier, only to suffer a severe backlash from the Law of the Formation, damaging their Primordial Spirit Origins.

“Saintess Linglong? You... you've come too!”

An Alchemy Elder from the Taixuan Immortal Sect heard the footsteps and opened his cloudy, old eyes.

Upon seeing it was Fairy Linglong, a flash of hopeful joy crossed his eyes, but after a glance at the endgame on the door, that joy quickly dimmed and turned into a long sigh.

“Elder, what has happened to you all? Is the Restriction on this door truly so formidable?” Fairy Linglong stepped forward quickly, her brows tightly knit.

“The Saintess may not know, but the Restriction on this door... is too perverted!” The Alchemy Elder shook his head with a bitter smile, pointing at the Pill Furnace pattern on the door, his tone full of frustration. “One must perfectly complete this Ancient Pill Formula and allow the pharmacological Laws to operate on their own before the door to the main hall can be opened.”

The Elder let out a long sigh, his eyes filled with awe and helplessness. “This Pill Formula not only involves profound Wood Element Laws and the principles of Yin and Yang creation and harmony, but it even includes the ratios for several types of immortal medicines that have been completely extinct since ancient times.”

“We old fogies have been sitting here studying it for half a day, racking our brains to no avail.”

“Just now, those two old ghosts from the Taiyi Sect tried to force a derivation, but it triggered the Void True Fire within the furnace, which instead shattered half of their Primordial Spirits.”

“It seems that the supreme Alchemy Legacy of the Jade Tripod Golden Immortal is destined to be beyond our reach after all...”

Hearing this, Fairy Linglong's expression also became extremely solemn.

Without a word, she walked straight to the door and released a thread of Divine Sense, carefully examining those intricate runes.

As the Holy Maiden of Taixuan, although her primary cultivation was in Divine Soul secret methods and the supreme Sword Dao, she also had a fair amount of experience in the path of Alchemy to assist her cultivation.

However, facing this Ancient Pill Formula endgame left by a Golden Immortal, she had only looked for less than half a stick of incense's time when—

“Buzz—”

Suddenly, a faint light flared from the runes on the door.

Fairy Linglong felt a thunderous roar in her mind as a wave of intense dizziness hit her. It felt as if thousands of golden needles were stabbing into the depths of her Sea of Consciousness simultaneously. She let out a muffled groan of pain, and her pretty face instantly turned deathly pale.

“No! The Laws of this endgame are too profound; it's like staring into an abyss. I can't understand it either.”

Fairy Linglong hurriedly cut off her Divine Sense and retreated two steps unsteadily, her eyes filled with reluctance as she pressed her fingers hard against her throbbing temples.

To see a mountain of treasure right behind the door, with a supreme Opportunity within reach, only to be blocked by a door—this kind of helplessness was maddening.

At this moment, not only were the Elders of the Taixuan Immortal Sect sighing, but the few conscious Elders of the Taiyi Immortal Sect nearby also had faces like dead ashes, staring helplessly with no idea what to do.

Just when everyone was at their wits' end and the atmosphere had become oppressive to the extreme...

Lu Li, acting as if nothing were wrong, paced slowly toward that door radiating a dangerous aura with his small hands behind his back.

He tilted his head slightly, staring at that obscure and difficult Alchemy endgame. His brow furrowed slightly, and his large eyes sparkled with curiosity, as if he had truly fallen into some deep contemplation.

“Little brother, stop looking and step back!”

Seeing this, the Elder from the Taixuan Immortal Sect kindly offered a word of advice. “This is a Heavenly Endgame left by an ancient Golden Immortal. Even we old fellows, who have studied the path of Alchemy for tens of thousands of years and have half our bodies in the grave, cannot understand it. A young lad like you, who can't even recognize all the properties of Immortal Plants, will only damage your Divine Soul by looking too much. You might even turn into an idiot!”

Although the Elder's tone was one of warning, his eyes showed that he didn't care at all for this frail youth who had been hiding behind the Saintess like a tagalong.

Fairy Linglong also felt that Lu Li was just causing trouble and was about to speak sternly to tell him to come back.

But Lu Li seemed not to hear the Elder's dismissive words at all.

He actually reached out a fair finger and made a few gestures in the air toward the most critical blank spaces of the endgame.

“Eh? The medicinal properties of this Nine-Leaf Soul-Returning Grass are extremely Yin and cold, while that Blazing Sun Vermilion Fruit is an overbearing object of extreme Yang and rigidity. If they are forced together like this...”